Heracles/Hercules is currently rated as 6-C for holding up the sky. However, unlike the Riordanverse, the sky was not dropped onto him. He simply took the weight from Atlas, then tricked Atlas into taking the sky back. As we agreed a while ago, lifting strength does not scale to attack potency anymore.

You know, after looking at the three sources referenced on Wikipedia, it looks like it's 2v1 in favor of some kind of continental movement, rather than mountain smashing. I posted the three sources in the comment section of the blog. I don't know how to calc pushing continents though.

Diodorus Siculus [4.18.5] "And since he wished to leave upon the ocean a monument which would be had in everlasting remembrance, he built out both the promontories, they say, to a great distance; consequently, whereas before that time a great space had stood between them, he now narrowed the passage, in order that by making it shallow and narrow he might prevent the great sea-monsters from passing out of the ocean into the inner sea, and that at the same time the fame of their builder might be held in everlasting remembrance by reason of the magnitude of the structures." [Pulls the continents together an unknown distance].

"Some authorities, however, say just the opposite, namely, that the two continents were originally joined and that he cult a passage between them, and that by opening the passage he brought it about that the ocean was mingled with our sea." [Pushes the continents apart].

This is tricky, since there are multiply sources stating Herc did different feats. Hell, one of the sources you posted even said they don't know if he pulled Africa and Europe together or apart. I would say pick the feat that has the lowest AP to be on the safe side (Which is probably the moutain smashing feat)

In the first depiction I ever saw of this feat, he pushed Spain from Africa to create the Strait of Gigraltar, other sources like Wikipedia say he smashed through it. The Strait of Gibraltar is 36 miles (58 km) long and narrows to 8 miles (13 km) in width between Point Marroquí (Spain) and Point Cires (Morocco), so that little gap was once filled with rock before Hercules smashed it into nothing as we see today.

Violent fragmentation or pulverization seem more fitting since it implies there was nothing left of what joined Spain and Africa.

I did a rough calc of the landmass consisting of Spain and Portugal being moved at 13 m/s. The KE was nearly 2.34e20 J (6-C or Island level). I will later put it into a blog. What should the timeframe for this moving feat really be anyway?

How'd you figure out the mass of Portugal and Spain, too? Separately, as well... The two are attached and are a peninsula. Could the collective mass of the Iberian Peninsula not be calculated (or found)?

I just took 13m/s arbitrarily for speed.
I first got the total area of both countries, added them and multiplied by 840m (elevation taken from [[1]]).
That gave me the volume. The total mass was calculated with density of Earth being 5.5 g/cc.

At this speed, the feat would take like 1000 seconds or approx. 18 minutes.

I first got the total area of both countries, added them and multiplied by 840m (elevation taken from [[1]]).
That gave me the volume. The total mass was calculated with density of Earth being 5.5 g/cc.

This metod is flawed as it doesn't take in consideration France, which by being directly above Spain would have had to be moved too

I first got the total area of both countries, added them and multiplied by 840m (elevation taken from [[1]]).
That gave me the volume. The total mass was calculated with density of Earth being 5.5 g/cc.

This metod is flawed as it doesn't take in consideration France, which by being directly above Spain would have had to be moved too

And Portugal and (snicker) Andorra, don't forget about them :P

Though I feel like calculating the whole mass of Europe (since if we go with the idea that he not only pushed the Iberian Peninsula but anything that was connected to the peninsula as well) would be a little too much work

So if we are including everything connected to the Iberian peninsula in this, we might have to include not just Europe but Asia as well. Wikipedia mentions that in the modern sense of continent, Eurasia is easily identified as one. The boundaries between Asia and Europe are based only on cultural/historical reasons, they say.

Well there are different continental systems, sometimes Europe and Asia are united into Eurasia (we consider them separate over here in Europe), North America and South America are united into America (which is how it is in most countries outside the USA). Technically Africa is connected to Asia as well, so it's a bit iffy.

I personally thought filling the space in the Strait of Gibraltar and calculating the AP needed to destroy that filled space would be more fitting. It will lead to less overly high numbers.

One thing that I don't understand is that his mortal form's durability is currently rated Island level with the explanation "Survived arm wrestling with his father who is as strong as him". This doesn't make sense since Zeus is High Universe level.

The Strait of Gibraltar is a fairly odd shape, but someone could try and get an area, apply the total height, and calc a destruction value from that. [The 43 km, 13 km, and 23 km all appear to be approximations since Britannica also lists the mean depth as (1200 ft) 365 m].

ChemistKyle89 wrote:I didn't know it that applied since he just dished out the hit and didn't tank it. But I'm game for applying it to durability also.

Newton's third law dictates that your physical punches scale to your durability, as every action has an opposite reaction of equal magnitude AKA your striking strength scales to your own durability by default unless shown otherwise (AKA if the force of your own punch doesn't shatter your arm, you scale).